Security in the home is becoming an increasingly expensive commodity. The days when a burning porch light deterred criminal elements are only a memory. One of the most frightening trends to develop recently is the crash or kick burglary. This is the crime where the burglar intentionally waits until the resident is home then kicks in the front door and terrorizes and robs the resident. The present invention will provide the home owner with an inexpensive means of reinforcing a door to prevent a kick burglar from gaining access to the home.
Typically, external doors are mounted to the door jamb by at least a pair of hinges and are provided with a dead bolt lock which is extended into a recess provided in the jamb to secure the door in a closed position. The weakest region of a door frame is the region where the bolt interacts with the door jamb. The portion of the jamb that is provided for restraining the door bolt or latch generally measures only in fractions of inches and is commonly composed of wood. As can be seen on most any evening news broadcast, this material is easily splintered and broken through with only a moderate amount of force directed against the door adjacent the locking mechanism.
In addition, the hinges offer another source of weakness. Generally hinges are attached to a door jamb and to the door using only short screws having small diameters. When the hinge region of a door is subjected to the kicking force of an intruder, a failure will generally occur as these screws will pull free of the door jamb and/or door.
A number of means have been developed to secure the home from the threat of kick burglars. These inventions have ranged from the installation of burglar bars, the use of wedges and braces, and through the installation of improvements to the door framing itself.
Improvements to the door frame or door jamb have with few exceptions been directed at improvements to the jamb in the region adjacent the locking mechanism of the door. Early improvements were directed to enlarging a striker plate for installation on the outer surface of the door jamb. While these developments allowed for an applied force to be distributed over a greater area, the resistance to the force still depends on the strength of a relatively weak section of the door jamb.
The next developments generally came in the form of reinforcing plates that were designed to be mounted to the jamb. U.S. Pat. No. 3,918,207 issued Nov. 11, 1975 to Aliotta discloses an L-shaped reinforcing plate that is mounted to the back of a jamb and has a flange for supporting the jamb in the region of the locking mechanism. Similarly, U.S. Pat. No. 4,074,484 issued Feb. 21, 1978 to Queren discloses a reinforcing plate that mounts to the wall studs and has flanged portion that extends outwardly for supporting the region of the door jamb receiving the bolt. And U.S. Pat. No. 4,174,862 issued Nov. 20, 1979 to Shane discloses a complicated U-shaped reinforcing plate that is installed around the wall studs and has a flange for supporting the jamb in the region receiving the bolt. Additional reinforcing efforts have resulted in complicated designs that require substantial machining to manufacture and/or intensive efforts to install.
Therefore, it is an object of this invention to provide a means for securing an external door against forcible entry, and more specifically, to prevent the unlawful entry of a kick burglar into a house or other building.
A further object of this invention is to provide such a secured doorway through the installation of a door assembly which can be inexpensively installed in both new and existing doorways with relative ease.
It is a further object of this invention to provide such an assembly that is of simple design and may be easily and inexpensively manufactured.
It is a further object of this invention to provide such an assembly that does not clutter or otherwise detract from the appearance of the home such that the benefits of this invention are not obtained at the expense of the home's aesthetics.
It is a further object of this invention to provide an assembly which is capable of reinforcing the doorway at any point where the door interacts with the door jamb.
It is a further object and feature of this application to provide a kick resistant door assembly that includes a doorway framed by at least two door jamb segments, a door mounted by hinges to one of the segments and a specialized plate assembly that mounts to both a door jamb segment and to adjacent framing studs for securing the door to the jamb segment. The plate assembly may be manufactured from a single rectangular plate and has a portion which is parallel to and attached to the jamb segment and a second portion which is attached to the framing studs. The portion of the plate assembly which is attached to the jamb segment has an opening for receiving a dead bolt extending from the door. Further, the plate assembly has an extended lip for reinforcing the region of the jamb where the latch of the door is received by the jamb. The door assembly may further comprise an external metal plate attached to the framing studs opposite the installation of the plate assembly such that the plate and plate assembly may be secured to one another. The door assembly may further comprise pairs of reinforcing rods attached to the hinges which extend into the door as well as through the jamb segment into the wall studs. The assembly may further comprise the use of additional plate assemblies mounted adjacent the hinges of the door with the openings of these additional plate assemblies aligned for receiving the reinforcing rods of the hinges.
It is a further object of the present invention that the plate assembly be configured for installation either in a region receiving the door's locking mechanism or in the region where the hinges are attached.